New Bill Asks For Cameraphones To Go Clickety Clack

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New Bill Asks For Cameraphones To Go Clickety Clack

Smile, say cheese and hold that pose till you hear the 'click'. A new bill introduced in the Congress by New York Republican Rep. Peter King requires mobile phones with digital cameras "to make a sound" when a photograph is taken.

The move is part of the 'Camera Phone Predator Alert Act' and the idea is to ensure privacy and safety of the public, especially children, claims the bill.

"Congress finds that children and adolescents have been exploited by photographs taken in dressing rooms and public places with the use of a camera phone," says the draft of the bill, which was introduced earlier this month.

If enacted the bill would require any mobile phone in the US to make a sound "audible within a reasonable radius of the phone whenever a photograph is taken with the camera in such phone." A mobile phone manufactured after the date the bill is enacted will have no way of disabling or silencing the sound.

The idea is not as astounding as it seems.Japan already requires all cameraphones including the iPhone to make an audible noise when taking a photograph.

But chances this bill will pass in the U.S. in its current form? Near zero. It has no co-sponsors and hasn't seen much traction. But if it does, be prepared for clicktones to be the next big thing after ringtones.